What if we could deactivate treatments after use to cut the rise of antibiotic resistance? Researchers hope they may be able to control the medicines we take to fight infection using light.

The voices warning of the demise of our antibiotic defences are getting louder. With common pathogens such as E. coli and the pneumonia bug K. pneumoniae developing resistance to our antibiotics of last resort, leading pharmacologists, clinicians and epidemiologists say we risk being cast back to a time when even routine surgery put Victorians at risk of fatal infection.